Ball projector



F'. E. MOORE BALL PROJECTOR Dec. 29, 1953 Filed April 24, 1951 M i M Patented Dec. 29, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT iQFFiICE 2,s64,0rz it BALIJPROJECTOR -Fred E. Moore; Los Analog-Calif.

1 Application April 24, 1951;Seria1 No. 222557 2zClaims..- (Cl.;-124-16) This invention relates to -a device for projecting an object from a support therefor into the air.

The invention in a more specific aspect may be stated as pertaining to a play toy in which a ball or other small object is projected from a support for it into the air by a spring or other expansible means acting upon a plunger held maintained retracted through the medium Of an elastic vacuum'cup.

Among many objects of the invention an important one is to provide a new combination of mounted spring pressed projectorand vacuum cup holder therefor.

This invention pertains to a .class of'devices wherein simplicity of structure and low cost of manufacture must be provided for or elsethe article will have no commercial value. Accordingly it is an object of the present invention to provide, for a spring loaded, ball throwing toy, a construction which is sufficiently simple to enable the manufacturer to make the toy at so low a cost that it will be a commercial success.

Other objects, advantages and features of the invention will hereinafter appear.

In the drawings wherein is shown a reduced to practice embodiment of the invention,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation with a fragment broken away illustrating the device in the retracted position, with the ball in place.

Fig. 2 is a top plan View, with the ball omitted.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section on line 3-3 of Fig. 1 with some portions shown in side elevation, the plunger being in ejected position with the ball shown in mid air in broken lines.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the illuse trated embodiment of the invention comprises a support which consists of an expanded base 5 having a tubular upward extension 6, said extension, in combination with the upper part of said base, forming guiding means for a vertical plunger or projector l to the lower end of which is attached an elastic vacuum cup holder 8. Said vacuum cup is bell shaped and has vulcanized into its upper part a screw 9 the stem of which projects upwardly from the cup and screws into an axial socket l I provided for it in the lower end of said plunger 1.

Said vacuum cup 8 at all times occupies a frusto-conical chamber or recess l2 centrally located in the aforesaid base 5. In Figs. 1 and 3 said recess is shown overlying a floor plate I4 attached to the flat bottom of the base by screws l5, but if this floor plate is omitted the remaining part of the structure still lies within the scope of the claimed invention. But when said floor 2 plate is used :th'erdevice isrrendered moremysterious in its action. becausev the user cannot-see what it isnthat causes a-itime interval to elapse between the' down: pressing of the plunger and the sudden cejection' thereof, said. cup 8 thenbein completely :closedin'iby said. plate and the top and' side .walls ofthe base.

".iThe; upper ip'art' ofthe plunger 1 fits with a working fit within the; aforesaid cylindrical extension 6 of thebase. but-said plunger has a diametricallyreduced-lower end portion 11 which fitsrwith arworkingafit-within a bore l8 leading axially from thealowerlend of the extension 6 into the aforesaidgchamben12.1 From the aforesaid diametrically reduced lower end portion I! of the plunger lw'resultsraneannular space 19 therearoundrwhich is occupied by a coiled compression spring 20 which acts between the lower annular shoulder 2| and the upper annular shoulder 22. The upper end portion of the plunger 1 carries a circular seat member 25 which is shown as an integral part of the plunger 1 axially connected therewith by means of a neck 26, but said member 25 may be made as a separate part and then attached to the plunger. Said seat member has a concave upper face 21 adapted to keep in place a ball 28, more particularly when the plunger is in its retracted position shown in Fig. 1, where the ball is shown seated, whereas in Fig. 2 a broken line indicates a position of the ball after having been thrown into the air by the plunger.

In using the device the operator will apply av downward pressure to the seat member 25 thus depressing the plunger 1 against the opposition of spring 20 and forcibly contacting the mouth portion of the vacuum cup 8 with the floor plate l4, thereby causing said cup to assume the deformed suction producing position shown in Fig. l. in which position the cup and plunger will remain until a sufficient amount of air has leaked under the cup (under the upward urge of the spring 20) to release the cup from the floor plate. After having thus depressed the plunger and deformed said cup the operator will poise the ball 28 upon the seat member 25, so that when air seepage under the cup releases the latter, the ball will be thrown up into the air by the sudden action of the spring 20.

When the floor plate I4 is omitted the suction cup will cooperate with whatever horizontal sur face is used to support the device. The character of such a surface in regard to porosity or evenness will determine the length of time that will elapse before the applied suction cup will be released by leakage of air thereunder.

Obviously other objects than a ball may be thrown into the air or raised to a more elevated position by the ejector means provided by this invention.

I claim:

1. A projecting device comprising a base having a spacious frusto-conical recess extending upwardly thereinto with the larger end of said recess directed downwardly, a tubular extension projecting upwardly from said base, a plunger working within said extension, a vacuum cup axially attached to the lower end of said plunger and occupying the aforesaid recess, the mouth of said cup being downwardly directed, a floor plate attached to said base in an underlying relation to said recess, a seat member carried-by the upper end of said plunger to seat an object to be projected into the air, and a spring within said tubular extension positioned to be compressed by said plunger whenever downward movement of the latter forces saidva'cuum cup into a suctionally applied relation to said floor plate.

2. In a projecting device of the kind described, a base consisting of a top wall portion and a side wall portion, a tubular extension projecting upwardly from said top wall, there being a bore extending through said top wall in axial alinement with said tubular extension, the diameter of said bore being less than the internal diameter of said tubular extension thus providing an upwardly facing annular shoulder around the upper end of the bore within said tubular extension, a plunger having a lower end portion occupying said bore with a working fit and an upper end portion occupying the internal diameter of said extension with a working fit, there being an annular downwardly facing shoulder between said upper and lower end portions of said plunger, the latter shoulder being at all times upwardly spaced from the former, a spiral compression spring surrounding said lower end portion of said plunger, the upper end of said spring abutting said downwardly facing shoulder and the lower end of said spring abutting said upwardly facing shoulder, a vacuum cup attached axially to the end of said plunger and contained within the recess of said base, and a seat member carried by the upper end of said plunger to seat an object to be projected into the air, the mouth of said vacuum cup being directed downwardly and when forcibly contacted with a surface by downward movement of said plunger against the opposition of said spring maintaining a temporary suctionally applied relation to said surface in opposition to said spring, said cup having an upper end portion of greater diameter than said bore, which upper end portion abuts the under side of the aforesaid top wall of the base to arrest the upward movement of said plunger under the urge of said spring, said abutting end portion of said cup possessing an elastic, shock absorbing quality.

FRED E. MOORE.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 75,767 Keyes Mar. 24, 1868 221,694 Mulholland Nov. 18, 1879 1,243,380 Berger Oct. 16, 1917 1,582,778 Parsons Apr. 2'7, 1926 1,657,936 Nebel Jan. 31, 1928 2,181,113 Adams Nov. 28, 1939 

